A true hero of the 20th century. Through the Czech Kindertransport, he almost singlehandedly saved 669 Czech Jewish children who would almost certainly have otherwise been killed (as were most of their parents), and their more than 6,000 descendants are alive today because of him. The Talmud teaches that he who saves one life saves the world entire; think of how many worlds Sir Nicholas saved.
Since my mother survived – and I exist – only because the U.K. agreed to take 10,000 Jewish children through the German and Austrian Kindertransport, this has a special meaning to me.
It is sad to think of how many more could have been saved if the U.S. government hadn’t rejected Sir Nicholas’s overtures to take Jewish children. But not surprising, considering that I was already aware that the Wagner-Rogers Bill – which would have had the effect of saving the lives of 20,000 German-Jewish children under the age of 14 by bringing them to the United States – was defeated in early 1939 because of strenuous public opposition, including from many “patriotic” organizations like the American Legion. I wonder how much general attitudes have changed here in the last 75 years.
The general American mindset toward other races and ethnic groups was indeed hideous in 1939. Knowing what the Nazis were doing to people, even children, we refused to save a mere 20,000… And some people think God will punish America for allowing gay marriage… Hey, what about shiz like, you know, allowing thousands of children to be murdered by a demonic regime? 8-|
Without intending to derail the rightful focus on Sir Nicholas Winton and his heroic achievements, here are several excerpts from links which discuss the fate of the Wagner-Rogers Bill:
What the U.K. did wasn’t perfect – after all, the idea of taking in and saving not only the 10,000 children they did but their parents as well was politically unthinkable – but it was something, and far more than the U.S. did. And given the outpouring of offers by Americans to take in British children only two years later, I have no doubt whatsoever that the defeat of the bill was largely motivated by anti-Semitism and “America for Americans, unless the foreigners happen to be white Anglo-Saxon Christians” attitudes.
@donnal:
It is a blight on our history. There were also serious deals on the table from the Nazis for the US to take in Jewish refugees (there have been more than a few “what if” novels written on the subject, there was a recent one where the Jews were settled in Alaska, kind of like “Northern Exposure”). HL Mencken, who was reputed to be an anti semite because some of his language was intemperate, argued quite passionately that the US was being short sighted denying the refugees a place to live, that these were the kind of people the US should want to live here, but it went to deaf ears. This was at a time when casual anti semitism was the lay of the land, religious leaders used anti semitic language in describing Jews (and many Christian churches held the belief that Jews were guilty in the death of Christ, and preached that in sermons and such). Many of those today who fight same sex marriage also exerted pressure on the government not to take in Jewish refugees, including leaders of the biggest denominations, it is sad that they couldn’t see beyond their own bigotry either.
On the other hand, you have to celebrate those who risked their lives, people like Raoul Wallenberg who saved Jews in Budapest when over 400,000 Jews perished in 6 months in 1944, often at the hands, not of the Nazis, but roaming gangs of Hungarian falangists, or the many people who hid Jews, helped them escape, like the mom of my doctor who was helped to escape in Poland as a teenager, who joined the resistance fighters there. We often talk of the bravery of those who fought the war, but the people who did things like this were equally brave, in that they risked all, too.
I have a good college friend whose mother was saved by Sir Nicholas. Her future husband also escaped from Prague as a child, but I’m not sure how. My friend, his wife and their son, all got to meet Sir Nicholas a few years ago and were very, very, happy to do so!